On April 5, I will be privileged to lead a six-mile procession from All Souls Church in Alhambra to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. I hope many of you will be able to join us.
We are calling it a “pilgrimage of hope” and it is part of our local celebration of the Jubilee of Hope declared by Pope Francis to mark the 25th year of the new Christian millennium.
Every heart needs hope in the face of the challenges of everyday life and the fears and uncertainties of the world.
In one of the Eucharistic prayers for Lent, we pray for the freedom to “so deal with the things of this passing world as to hold rather to the things that eternally endure.”
That freedom is the fruit of the virtue of hope.
Hope is not just a sentiment, a warm wish that things will work out alright or be better in the future. Hope is a pillar, an anchor, one of three “theological virtues” that form the foundation of our relationship with God and our lives as Christians.
If you have not returned to the Catechism in a while, I recommend it. The short article on hope (nos. 1817–1821) makes for inspiring spiritual reading, especially in this Jubilee Year.
Hope turns our eyes toward heaven, even as we live in this world of passing things.
We can only understand the events of our lives and the events of this passing world accurately, if we view them in light of God’s plan of salvation, the kingdom that he is building in history, through the workings of his Church.
Hope gives us this perspective. Hope opens our eyes to see that the truth and happiness that we all desire can only be found in God and in the promises of Jesus.
In Christ, we discover that we are made by God and made for God, through love. This is the source of our dignity and it defines the transcendent destiny of our lives. We are made for heaven. It is Christ’s promise of heaven that is the source of our hope.
My sense is that we don’t think enough about heaven. That’s understandable. We are all caught up in the business of living and the demands of work, of school, of all the responsibilities that we have for our loved ones.
That’s why it’s important for us to be intentional about cultivating the virtue of hope.
Hope lifts our hearts toward heaven and keeps our lives grounded and following the right path on earth.
Jesus promised us that he has gone ahead of us to prepare a place for us in his Father’s house. And he “proved” his love by laying down his life for us on the cross.
So we can live with confidence, knowing that if we follow the way that Jesus set before us, if we love him and seek to do the will of the Father, as he taught us, then we will be with him forever in the glory of heaven.
When we live with hope, we remember that we are on our way to heaven. And when we live with that hope, the things we do during the course of our days take on a new and fuller meaning.
Pope Francis is calling us in this Jubilee Year to become “pilgrims of hope.”
This means living our faith in Jesus with humility, joy, and love, and it means being active in seeking ways to share the hope that we have in him.
It means living as St. Peter talked about: always being ready to share “the reason for your hope … with gentleness and reverence.”
Sharing our hope is an important dimension of being apostles and missionary disciples in our time and place. So many of our neighbors are struggling and searching for meaning in the midst of the difficulties of their lives.
So, in this Jubilee Year, let’s look for ways to share our hope with those who are discouraged. Let’s let them know, through our words and deeds, that they are never abandoned and that they are loved.
My prayer is that we will use this Jubilee Year to work on growing in the virtue of hope.
We can start by making acts of trust in Jesus, asking him often during the course of the day to help us to rely on his strength and not our own.
Let’s also try to reflect more about our Lord’s promises of heaven, especially as we prepare for the final days of this sacred season, in which we remember his passion and resurrection.
Pray for me and I am praying for you.
May our Blessed Mother Mary go with us, and may she help us all to live with joyful hope, and help us to share the hope that is in us with our neighbors.
